Achilles, Princess of Scyros
by Ailsa
Summary: To protect Achilles from ever joining the Trojan War, Thetis disguises him as a young girl, a daughter of King Lycomedes. Whatever happened for those 6 years? Chapter 4 up
1. The Disguise

Author's Note: This fanfic was actually based on a true plotline. Yes, Thetis did learn of an oracle where Achilles was going to die after he killed Hector in the Trojan War. Yes, Thetis did disguise him as a daughter of king Lycomedes. Yes, Achilles was disguised under the name Pyrrha. Yes, Achilles did have a crush on a girl named Deidamia. Yes, Deidamia did have a son with him, named Pyrrhus (He had 2 names, his more popular one was Neoptolemus). Yes, Neoptolemus really was an evil (censored) The only fictional stuff I made up was the details about what really happened.  
  
Achilles fidgeted as his mother was pinning a brooch to his right shoulder in the palace of Lycomedes.  
  
"Mother! This is ridiculous!"  
  
Thetis frowned at her 9-year-old son. "Achilles, my only son, remember what I told you. It is prophesied that if you join the Trojan War, you would die as soon as you kill a certain rival by the name of Hector."  
  
When Thetis finished placing the brooch on his shoulder, Achilles turned around and glared at his mother. "What makes you think that I would want to join the Trojan War in the first place? Even if I did, I just won't kill somebody by the name of Hector. You don't have to resolve to-," Achilles couldn't even finish the sentence to describe his condition. "To this." Achilles waved his hand to direct Thetis' attention to her son's dress.  
  
Thetis smiled and grabbed her son's hand. "I want you to stay completely safe." She half led him, half dragged him into a room, where Lycomedes greeted both her and Achilles.  
  
Lycomedes greeted Thetis with open arms and a great grin on his face "Thetis, my dear friend, what can I do you for?"  
  
"Seventeen gold coins and a trunk filled with gowns." Achilles whispered to himself as he stood next to his mother, frowning. Unfortunately Thetis heard him and pinched his arm. "Ouch!"  
  
Thetis then turned to Lycomedes. "I would like for my son, Achilles, to be disguised as one of your daughters so he would be protected from the Trojan War."  
  
Lycomedes grinned. "Yes, of course. I shall even keep it a secret from my daughters. Now come along with me, Achilles." Lycomedes said.  
  
Achilles stood there, shocked. "But how long will it be before I can be myself again?"  
  
"Until the Trojan War has ended." King Lycomedes said.  
  
"But that could take years!" Achilles shouted. "It hasn't even started, and I don't even see a chance of it starting!"  
  
"Good, the longer it is until the war, the longer you live." Thetis snapped. She turned to King Lycomedes. "Perhaps we should give him a more feminine name? How about-" she paused. "How about Pyrrha?"  
  
"Ah, yes. Come along, Pyrrha." Lycomedes said. Given no choice, Achilles had to follow the king to meet his daughters. Seven girls were in the room, standing from oldest to youngest.  
  
Lycomedes put his hands on Achilles' shoulder. "Girls, this is your illegitimate sister, Achi-I mean, Pyrrha. I would like one of you to show her around the palace and treat her fairly. Would any of you like this task of helping?"  
  
The older 2 looked at each other and stared back at Achilles, but the younger four eagerly wanted to be assigned this task. Lycomedes looked at the younger four, and made his choice. "Deidamia, why don't you go with Achilles, since you are the oldest of these four."  
  
The girl, who looked just slightly older than Achilles, eagerly clapped her hands together in glee. "Yes father!" she said, and the other girls quickly ran off, playing.  
  
Princess Deidamia motioned Achilles along. She walked off, with Achilles clumsily stumbling behind her, tripping over the dress that he was not at all use to wearing. This isn't too bad, Achilles thought. He couldn't help but notice how Princess Deidamia was incredibly pretty, and he felt his stomach churn nervously when he watched her. I've become a lesbian. Achilles thought, following the girl.  
  
Deidamia quickly grabbed Achilles by the hand and brought him to the garden, where the other six girls were playing a game of throwing and catching a large ball. "Play with us," Deidamia said, while the other girls ran around, giggling. The girls threw the ball to each other. As they played, Achilles learned a little bit about each girl, though he was especially interested in Deidamia.  
  
The girls chattered and giggled as they threw the ball, throwing and catching, full of mirth. After playing for a while, a servant walked up to the girls and scolded them for getting their clothes dirty, and had them wash off.  
  
The girls, including Achilles, got clean gowns from the servants, and they followed the oldest to bathe. Achilles expected small wooden tubs in separate rooms. Unfortunately, it was a small pond outside, filled by a nearby spring that was guarded by the walls of the palace. The seven true daughters of Lycomedes immediately stripped down and dove into the cold water and began spreading olive oil on their arms and legs, scrapping the oil off to clean themselves.  
  
Achilles stood by the side, wondering what to do as the second youngest girl, Ganeia, turned and saw him standing by himself. "Pyrrha, come on in, the water is fine."  
  
Achilles took off 2 sandals, and only dipped his legs into the water. "I'll just clean off here." He said, blushing a deep red and turned his head to avoid seeing the princesses bathing. He quickly took a jar of olive oil, rubbed it on his legs, and scraped it off using one of the scrapers handed to him. He then washed the visible parts of his arms, hoping the girls wouldn't notice that he was still fully clothed and only his feet were in the water.  
  
Unfortunately, hope isn't the same thing as reality, and Achilles learned this as the seven pairs of arms pulled him into the water.  
  
And so began the 6 years that Achilles spent with the daughters of Lycomedes. 


	2. Sibling Rivalry

Deidamia clapped her hands gleefully as Pyrrha screamed and thrashed while her sisters tried to remove her tunic. Deidamia and her sisters had removed a brooch when Pyrrha reached out and slapped Hippomedia, Deidamia's youngest sister, across the face. The girls quickly retreated as Pyrrha climbed out of the water and ran back into the palace. Hippomedia, the sister that Pyrrha slapped, started wailing.  
  
Deidamia quickly held Hippomedia to her chest and rocked the four-year-old girl in her arms. Another one of the sisters spoke angrily. "What is with that Pyrrha? She is an illegitimate daughter, yet she thinks she is better than us, the true daughters of Lycomedes and his wife!"  
  
"I don't know," Ganeia said with a frown. The princesses rinsed off, put on their fresh tunics and walked back into the palace.  
  
In the palace, King Lycomedes was standing with a shivering Pyrrha with a cloak draped around her. He looked stern and made the girls sit down. "Daughters, it has come to my attention that you have not been good to your half-sister Pyrrha."  
  
This infuriated the girls. "Father, we tried to be nice to her. She slapped Hippomedia!"  
  
"She was thrashing in the water!"  
  
"We tried to be nice to her!"  
  
"She was the one who wasn't behaving!"  
  
"SILENCE!" The king roared, and the girls quieted down. "Now, what I told you earlier is that you should treat Pyrrha fairly. If she did not want to remove her tunic in front of you, then so be it. From now on, she shall bathe at a different time from all of you, and she shall have her own separate room."  
  
Deidamia stood up. "But father, all seven of us all have to share a room. Why does Pyrrha get a separate room? She isn't a legitimate daughter. She's a bastard!"  
  
A cold silence came over the room and Lycomedes walked over to his third daughter and slapped her across the face so hard that she fell. It felt like a sharp electric jolt had run across her face, and the side of her face went numb with a burning sensation. When she put her hand to her nose and brought it to her eyes, she saw that her nose was bleeding. Her eyes stung and she started to cry silently, tears trickling down her face.  
  
After all, in Ancient Greece, parents were allowed to beat their children. Being a female child, Deidamia was not as privileged as a boy. This was what the king disliked; all his children were daughters, and he lacked a male heir. The heir was always the eldest boy in the family, and if there was none, then it was the husband of the oldest girl. Deidamia's older two sisters were facing the pressure of a forced marriage and a line of suitors eager to inherit the kingdom, even though the oldest sister was 12 and the other was 11. Deidamia herself was just 8 at the time. Being much younger then the other two, she did not face much pressure, but the pressure was enough. The Greek law was that a girl should be married not too long after sexual maturity, and even though none of them had reached the maturity level yet, King Lycomedes persisted on marrying the oldest sister, Delia, as quickly as possible.  
  
The king then faced the other six daughters. "I told you that you must treat your sister Pyrrha with respect. If any of you do anything that angers me, I will make sure to give you a beating much worse than Deidamia." He swept his robes back and walked away, leaving Pyrrha and the seven daughters by themselves. Deidamia's six sisters quickly left the room, while Pyrrha bent down and faced Deidamia, eye to eye.  
  
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said, and offered a hand to Deidamia. Deidamia jumped up and glared at the illegitimate girl. "Leave me alone." Deidamia said through her tears, and quickly ran off, following her six sisters.  
  
Achilles watched the girls walk off, and slapped himself in the face. Why, why did he have to tell Lycomedes what happened? Lycomedes was doing all this just because he was afraid that Achilles' mother, Thetis, would tell Zeus.  
  
At the particular moment, Achilles hated everything. He hated his mother, the way she decided to send him to this palace. He hated Lycomedes, the coward. He hated the seven princesses, because of their distance toward him. He especially hated Deidamia, because of the way she hated him.  
  
Achilles squeezed his eyes shut. No wait, he didn't hate Deidamia. He liked Deidamia. He loved her, but she hated him. Achilles slowly got up, cursed himself, and walked to his private room.  
  
*End of Chapter 2*  
  
Note: The plotline really did happen. Only the details I added in are fictional. Of the sisters, Deidamia is real. I made up the rest. If you never heard about this story and the plotline, here is what really happened:  
  
Thetis was a sea goddess that both Zeus and Poseidon liked, but there was an oracle that her son would be more powerful than his father, so Zeus made Thetis marry a mortal man named Peleus. The wedding was ruined when Eris, the goddess of discord, threw a golden apple marked "To the fairest" at their wedding. Anyway, Thetis had a son named Achilles, and she dipped him into the river Styx to make him immortal except for his heal. When little Achilles was nine, Thetis learned of an oracle that her son would die in the Trojan War if he fought and killed a man by the name of Hector. She decided to protect him by disguising him as a girl and have her friend, Lycomedes, help with this plot.  
  
Real characters from Greek Mythology: Thetis-sea goddess, Achilles' mother Peleus- mortal father of Achilles, husband of Thetis Achilles- Achean hero during the Trojan War. Lycomedes- Friend of Thetis, helped with the girl's disguise for Achilles Deidamia- One of the many daughters of Lycomedes, Achilles had a crush on her.  
  
What I made up: The names of the rest of the daughers of Lycomedes, they actually did not have names. I just made names because it bugged me to say "daughter of Lycomedes that isn't Deidamia" so I gave them names like Ganeia, Hippomedia, and Delia. Oh, and the number of the daughters was also BS-ed. There were a lot of daughers, but no specific number. Something more than 5, less than 20, so I said 7 so it was easier to keep track of. 


	3. The Adventures of Bathing

A/N: Excuse my mythology skills, but a lot of things related to time contradict each other. Can somebody please tell me how Eris threw the golden apple at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, but the war didn't start until Achilles, their son, was a young man? Shouldn't it have started within a year? I found it rather confusing. Same as the thing about Neoptolemus being old enough to fight; shouldn't he have been about nine years old when it ended? Anyway, I'll try to make this fanfic work out.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
A long time had past since Achilles first came to the palace. Four years, in fact. Now Achilles was a teenage boy, still disguised as a girl. Achilles had finally gotten used to being a girl in the palace. He learned to work at the loom, work on embroidery, and many other feminine things that many men from Ancient times would have considered atrocious.  
  
Since the past four years, there were many changes. The oldest two daughters of Lycomedes had gotten married off to noble minor princes who lived in Peloponnesia. The daughters of Lycomedes got along better with him, though they did not bond in a sisterly way and it was clear that they never would. It was only Hippomedia, the youngest sister that had gotten along with him; though she annoyed him so much he would rather have had none of them get attached to him.  
  
As his mother had recently told him, Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world was married to a man named Menelaus. Helen had more than 50 suitors, that is, if you counted only the ones of royal blood. The suitors had included kings and princes from many parts of Europe. They included powerful kings such as Agamemnon, Odysseus, Ajax, and Diomedes. Thetis warned that this had something to do with the Trojan War and Achilles had to endure another one of her lectures about not joining it.  
  
"Princess Pyrrha," A voice said beside him. Achilles turned around and saw and elderly servant woman standing next to him. "Your bath is ready."  
  
"Thank you Lathra," Achilles said, and he walked into his private room. There was a small gray room with a small wooden tub of hot water, which the servants had boiled. He got out a small jar of olive oil and a pair of scrapers from the drawers and sat down in the warm water. It was then that Hippomedia, the youngest (and most annoying) of Deidamia's sisters had run into the room.  
  
"Pyrrha!" The girl called, running up to her. Achilles quickly snapped his head up from the side of the tub he was relaxing on. He quickly bent his legs to hide his body and glared at the girl.  
  
"What are you doing in here!" Achilles yelled at her. "This is my private domain, if you remember what our father had said."  
  
Hippomedia didn't apologize but stood gasping for air. "But it's Ganeia. She was climbing a tree and she- she slipped."  
  
Achilles was ready to bolt up, but realized he was sitting naked in a tub of water. "What happened?"  
  
"I don't know, but she cried something awful and kept clutching her elbow. It was bleeding." Hippomedia said, trying to recall the events that took place.  
  
"Run to tell her that I'll be right there." Achilles said, quickly scraping the oil off his arm. As Hippomedia ran off, Achilles jumped out of the tub, grabbed the tunic, and ran out of the room barefoot, pinning his brooches onto the tunic as he ran.  
  
When Achilles ran out of the room, he saw Ganeia sitting cross-legged on the floor, crying softly. She was clutching onto her elbow, which was bleeding. Deidamia and Hippomedia were crouched next to her. Achilles ran up and squatted next to Ganeia. "Show me your arm." He demanded.  
  
Sobbing, Ganeia showed her arm. It was a deep cut along her elbow. Achilles quickly picked the young girl up and carried her into the palace in a quick run. Being a demigod, this was very easy for him, though Hippomedia and Deidamia watched him in awe.  
  
He carried Ganeia to the kitchen, where Halia, the cook, was standing. Achilles ordered the cook to get a pot of hot water, and the cook obeyed. Achilles then grabbed part of his tunic and tore off a strip, dipped it into the water. He blew on it gently to cool it; and then wrapped it around Ganeia's arm. Ganeia let out a small yelp as he did this, while Deidamia held her tightly.  
  
"Ganeia, move your arm around. Besides the cut, does it hurt in any way?" Achilles asked with concern. Ganeia moved her arm and shook her head. Achilles relaxed. "It's all right, she did not break anything."  
  
Deidamia studied him. "How did you learn how to do this?" She demanded.  
  
"Oh, I studied with Chiron the centaur for a year, but he dismissed me after the year was over because he thought did not obey him and my temper was too quick." Achilles answered without thinking.  
  
"You studied with Chiron? But I thought only boys studied with him!"  
  
Achilles quickly realized his mistake. "I-I was the first girl to study with him."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Achilles couldn't say that the reason he was allowed to go was because his mother was Thetis. "He thought I had potential." He lied.  
  
Deidamia gave a very un-ladylike snort. "You, potential." She said with a giggle. She gave Ganeia a gentle nudge, and the two younger sisters of Deidamia ran off, leaving Deidamia alone with Achilles.  
  
"Everyone has potential." Achilles said, continuing the conversation. "You just have to put your mind to something and do it. Everyone has to be good at something, no matter how ridiculous his or her talent is. One can be good at fighting with a sword, while another can be good at guessing how many strands of hair some one has on their head and get it right."  
  
Deidamia smiled at him. "I doubt if I have a potential."  
  
"Oh really? I have a different answer than that. You have the potential of making people feel bad about themselves."  
  
Deidamia gave Achilles a playful shove. "Pyrrha, I doubt that I have ever made anybody feel bad about him or herself."  
  
"Yes, you have made me feel awfully about myself these past four years." Achilles pointed out, surprising himself by saying his feelings out loud.  
  
Deidamia paused and then glanced at Achilles, surprised. "Oh, Pyrrha, I am so very sorry." She held up her right hand. "I swear by the River Styx that I shall never do anything awful to you ever again, my dear sister." Deidamia quickly turned and gave Achilles a hug. When Achilles felt her breasts against his chest, he quickly took a step back, and felt an unfamiliar burning in his loins.  
  
"It's all right," he said, blushing. Deidamia then studied him and giggled. "Pyrrha, you are only wearing a simple white tunic."  
  
Achilles looked down at himself. When Hippomedia ran to him, he had quickly put on the undergarment and dashed out, following her. It was supposed to be all right for a young child, but Lycomedes had Achilles pretend to be a developed girl by thirteen, and a simple undergarment was not appropriate. He turned beet red and quickly ran back to his bathing room while Deidamia laughed in mirth behind him.  
  
When Achilles got back into his private bathroom, he thought of putting on the rest of his clothing but decided against it. He removed his tunic, and climbed back into the water, which had cooled drastically. He leaned back into the water, closed his eyes, and fantasized about Deidamia.  
  
*End of Chapter 3* 


	4. The Advice of Theseus

(A/N: This will be the longest chapter, but it develops the plot, my story will go all the way to Achilles' death) **Chapter 4**  
  
One year later, 13 year old Deidamia stood in front of the mirror, while a servant tied her hair into braids. Deidamia was old enough to have her own children now, and it was only right for her to be married. Lycomedes had not chosen a husband for her yet. Lycomedes had changed since 5 years ago, he was no longer obsessed over trying to marry off his daughters, and he wasn't planning to marry off Deidamia for at least half a year.  
  
Deidamia started to ponder of her wedding. Would she marry a handsome prince? Where would he be from? Crete? Argos? Athens? She heard that the prince of the neighboring kingdom of Phthia, the son of King Peleus, was about her age, but whoever the boy was, he was off to study with the great Chiron, so that was no good. Besides, it would be her father who chose her husband.  
  
Just then, one of Lycomedes messengers ran up to her. "Princess, the King would like for me to alert you and your sisters that there shall be a banquet tonight and hopes for you and the rest of your sisters to appear."  
  
Deidamia stared at the messenger. "But I am a girl! Women are never allowed at banquets!"  
  
The messenger cleared his throat. "However, the King says it is an exception because he would like to show the guest his daughters."  
  
"All right," Deidamia said. "You may go now." The servant backed away as Deidamia continued walking.  
  
Deidamia heard a loud thud behind her, and she turned and saw Pyrrha collapsed on the floor. What Deidamia did not see was that as Achilles turned his head and admired Deidamia's looks to himself, he had ran into the wall.  
  
Now Pyrrha was kneeling on the floor, holding onto her head, groaning in a voice that was extremely low for a girl.  
  
Deidamia excused her servants, ran up to Pyrrha and bent down. "Are you all right?" Deidamia asked.  
  
Pyrrha rubbed her head and made a crooked grin. "I guess I was not paying attention."  
  
Deidamia held out a hand, and helped Pyrrha up. "Do you need anything? Does it hurt? I can send my maids to get you a wet cloth to put on your head."  
  
Pyrrha shook her head. "No, it's all right." Pyrrha then grasped Deidamia's hand to hoister herself up.  
  
As Pyrrha picked herself up, one of her feet had been on the tunic. As she stood up, the force of it caused the girdle to fall off, splitting the gown from the chest to bottom.  
  
Pyrrha quickly clutched onto her tunic and sat down on the floor. Deidamia gave a small giggle. "It's all right, let me help you up." Deidamia tried to pull Pyrrha up, but Pyrrha would not let her.  
  
"It's fine, really." Pyrrha said, trying to brush Deidamia off. "You go on without me."  
  
"Don't be silly, let me help you."  
  
"No, Deidamia, please, I'm fine." Pyrrha's eyes were wide, as if she were afraid of something.  
  
"Look, Pyrrha, I'm just trying to help." With that said, Deidamia grabbed Pyrrha's hand and yanked her up.  
  
Immediately, the front of Pyrrha's gown flew open, exposing Pyrrha to Deidamia, who screamed and fell back in horror. Pyrrha quickly pulled her robes back together and turned away.  
  
What had caused Deidamia to fall back in horror was something that she saw on Pyrrha's naked body. There was something she saw that should not have ever been in existence on any girl.  
  
Deidamia screamed again, and this time, Pyrrha ran up to her and clamped her hand, or rather, his hand over Deidamia's mouth.  
  
"Be quiet." Pyrrha hissed. "Somebody might hear."  
  
Deidamia gave him a push and stepped back. "What is going on?" she asked, trembling.  
  
Pyrrha sighed. "Look, Deidamia, I did not want to tell you this way." Pyrrha sighed. Deidamia pressed her lips together, and trembling, she folded her arms across her chest. I must be going mad. Deidamia thought.  
  
Pyrrha then started to talk, looking only at the floor. "My name is not Pyrrha, and I am not your sister. I am Achilles, the son of Peleus, king of Phthia, and Thetis, the sea goddess. A prophecy was told that my life would be cut short if I join the Trojan War, and too keep me from joining it, my mother disguised me as a girl and sent me to your father and pretend to be one of his daughters."  
  
Deidamia stared at him. "Does my father know about this?"  
  
Achilles nodded. "He, my parents, I, and now you are the ones who know."  
  
Deidamia still could not go over the fact that Pyrrha, a sister whom she knew for 5 years, was non-existent, and really a boy.  
  
Before Deidamia could say anything, the same messenger who told Deidamia about the guest arrived to escort Deidamia to the banquet. Deidamia quickly followed him, while Achilles left to change in his room.  
  
Deidamia's 4 younger sisters were already there as King Lycomedes saw them. The older ones, being married off, were no longer there.  
  
"Ah, yes, and this is the eldest of my maiden daughters, Deidamia." Lycomedes said, as Deidamia took a seat.  
  
The guest turned out to be an old man named Theseus, who was king of Athens. He was a kind old man with gray hair, and his muscles proved that when he was young, he must have been a very powerful man.  
  
They sat at a long table, with Lycomedes at one end, Theseus at the other, and the 5 princesses and Achilles at opposite sides. Naturally, a conversation started to pass the time, but none of the princesses dared to say anything, because it was not a women's place. The conversation was based only on Lycomedes and Theseus, but Deidamia listened with her head bent down, determined not to look at Achilles, who was sitting across from her at the long table.  
  
"I thank you for letting me stay here, King Lycomedes." Theseus said. "I find this palace quite extraordinary, especially the way your daughters dine with you. Everything about Scyros interests me, and I once again thank you for your hospitality."  
  
"Oh, the people of Scyros would always be pleased to give hospitality to any guest." King Lycomedes said. "But do tell me, why do you travel alone?"  
  
Theseus sighed. "I was king of Athens, with a beautiful wife, Phaedra, and my bastard son, Hippolytus. I thought everything was going perfectly, until I returned home one night, only to find Phaedra dead. She had slain herself, and there was a note in her hand, addressed to me. Phaedra had written that my bastard son, Hippolytus, had raped her, and she took her own life in order to avoid the shame.  
  
"I then prayed to the god Poseidon, to punish my son. Hippolytus was then drowned at sea. I later learned that Hippolytus was innocent, and I had wrongly caused the death of my own flesh and blood.  
  
"It turns out that Phaedra approached my son, loving him, but he rejected her love. As revenge, she took her life and blamed him. Being the fool I am, I fell for Phaedra's lies and convicted my own son. My own son, my flesh and blood."  
  
Theseus broke down and wept, and Deidamia immediately felt sorry for him. She looked up, and Achilles' eyes met with hers. She turned away, and focused on Theseus, but for some reason, she longed to meet Achilles' gaze again.  
  
Shakily, Theseus continued. "I have nobody left. I brought ruin to my family. My father, Aegeus, had jumped into the sea when he thought I had perished in a fight against the Minotaur, just because I had forgotten to switch sails. Castor and Polydeuces, princes of Sparta, captured my mother, Aethra, because I had first abducted their sister, Helen. My mother is now her slave, and I am too old to fight for her. My first love, Ariadne, I had left on the island of Naxos. My wife, Phaedra, has been unfaithful to me and killed herself. And now my son, I brought forth his ruin.  
  
"So Lycomedes, I hope to stay until my death. I ask of you to shelter me, like I had once sheltered Oedipus."  
  
Lycomedes gave Theseus a friendly smile. "I will let you stay." He said.  
  
Theseus gave the king a smile and merrily, he told the royal family about his life in Athens and mentioned his youthful adventures for the rest of the night.  
  
After the dinner was over, Deidamia got up and sat next to Theseus. The old man looked weary, but he smiled at Deidamia and began to speak to her.  
  
"You are Deidamia, the eldest?" Theseus asked.  
  
Deidamia nodded. "Theseus, I just want to say, your story has touched me more than anything else that I ever remembered."  
  
Theseus smiled. "I have faced many things and known many forces, but one force I never came to know was love. I never knew true happiness in love. Ariadne was the closest that I had ever come to when love is involved."  
  
"But surely you were loved, by your father and comrades?"  
  
"I was, and I did not lack of this. My father, Aegeus, took his own life for me, while my best friend, Pirithuous had many adventures with me. However, the love between a man and a woman is one I never knew."  
  
Theseus then turned to Deidamia, and put his hand on hers. "So Deidamia, when you meet your one special love, do not fear him, embrace him. Seize the chance." Theseus said. He then got up and went to the tower of the guests, while Deidamia got up and started walking away.  
  
Seize the chance. Theseus' words echoed in Deidamia's head. Seize the chance.  
  
Something about what he said clicked in her mind, but what?  
  
Seize the chance.  
  
Deidamia stopped in her tracks. She knew that she reacted to his words this way because something Theseus had said reminded her of a condition she was in. Her heart started racing, but what was it that related to her? What was it?  
  
Deidamia leaned against a wall. She tried to guess. Was it her father? Her sisters? Achilles? Her kingdom? She tried to name more, but her mind only rested on Achilles. She tried to brush him out of her mind, but couldn't.  
  
Suddenly, Deidamia knew the answer. It was Achilles. She loved him. That was the answer.  
  
But that was ridiculous. She could not possible love somebody who she only truly knew for a day. Deidamia brushed Achilles out of her mind out of her mind and tried to think of her wedding. It was no use, however, because then she started thinking of marrying Achilles. Instead Deidamia cleared her thoughts completely and went to sleep.  
  
That night, Deidamia awoke with a start. There were voices outside. *That was strange, who would be up this late at night*, Deidamia thought. She climbed out of bed, went out of her room, and tiptoed to a window.  
  
Outside, lanterns were glowing in the dark night sky, and there were about 20 men walking, along with King Lycomedes. Deidamia could not hear clearly from so far up, but she saw her father direct the men to walk, and they arrived at a cliff.  
  
Deidamia then saw her father point at somebody, whom was being lifted up into the hands of the other men. Theseus! He seemed to be struggling, when several of the men hoisted him up on their shoulders and, to Deidamia's horror, the men threw him off of the cliff.  
  
Deidamia clasped her hand over her mouth to keep her from letting out a shriek. This could not be happening. Her father was a brutal murderer! Why would he do something so atrocious? Deidamia felt tears brimming in her eyes and started to cry. Theseus had such a hard life, and her vicious father had made it worse.  
  
"Deidamia? What are you doing here?" a voice asked.  
  
Deidamia looked up, and saw Achilles, who was rubbing his eyes. Her crying must have woken him up. Seeing Achilles only made her cry harder.  
  
Achilles bent over her, and offered her a handkerchief.  
  
"What happened?" Achilles asked, as Deidamia wiped her eyes.  
  
"My father," Deidamia said in a choked voice. "He killed Theseus. I just saw him do it."  
  
Achilles dropped his mouth open. "But why? Theseus was so kind, and all he did was ask for Father's-I mean, your father's hospitality." Achilles was so accustomed to referring to Lycomedes as his own father that switching back seemed hard to do.  
  
Deidamia shook her head. "I don't know why my father would do such a thing. I hate him."  
  
Achilles sat next to her, and put his arms around her. Shocked at this sudden move of compassion, Deidamia's heart gave a squeeze and the girl jumped up.  
  
"I have to go now." Deidamia said, backing away from Achilles. She didn't like the way she was feeling, and quickly ran off, with a stunned Achilles standing behind her 


End file.
